Category Archives: review

Venus LOWA 60mm f2.8 Macro Lens and Kuangren KX-800 Twin Flash

Written by jciv on April 23, 2015 — Leave a Comment

When I first heard about the Venus macro lens that can go from infinity focus to 2:1 magnification, I wanted it, but it didn’t seem real and I forgot about it. After I saw Thomas Shahan’s video review and comments by other insect photographers, I ordered it. It is available in several different mounts. I […]

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Antique Style Halloween Lanterns

Written by jciv on September 24, 2010 — Leave a Comment

I was pretty happy with my Bloody Rustic Lantern from Spirit Halloween last year ($15), but I wished it wasn’t covered in blood spatter. So this year when I found two different ones online with no blood, I ordered them. One has the same incandescent bulb as the Spirit Halloween one, the other is sound […]

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Halloween24.com

Written by jciv on September 22, 2010 — Leave a Comment

I did some shopping around and found an online Halloween store with great prices, Halloween24.com. The store is Canadian so my stupid credit card added a FOREIGN TRANSACTION FEE for a few more dollars which I was not happy about, but I saved so much buying from the site, it wasn’t that bad. I can’t […]

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Cosina 100mm F3.5 Macro

Written by jciv on September 22, 2010 — Leave a Comment

The Cosina 100mm is a pretty decent starter macro lens with good sharpness. You may also find the lens branded as Vivitar or Phoenix. But to get actual 1:1 magnification, it comes with a matched adapter. 1:1 isn’t always necessary, but its certainly good for anything smaller than a butterfly. While using the adapter, you […]

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Not So Shiny Chrome

Written by jciv on September 2, 2008 — 4 Comments

When I heard about Google’s Chrome browser yesterday, I was worried for Mozilla. Google is their biggest source of income and if Chrome became popular, there wouldn’t be much use in continuing that relationship. Now that I have tried it, I don’t think Mozilla has much to worry about at least for a few years. […]

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Canon Powershot S5 IS

Written by jciv on June 20, 2007 — 22 Comments

I am pretty excited about my new Canon Powershot S5 IS. Since it is so new and there are few reviews of it around I thought I should post my “review.” If you skipped the S3 waiting for a big improvement like I did, this might be what you have waited for. But it is […]

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Canon PowerShot SD800

Written by jciv on May 13, 2007 — 2 Comments

In addition to my Canon S2 IS, I have been using the Canon PowerShot SD800 since October. Carrying around a pocket sized camera is so much more convenient. I never thought I would buy a camera with less than 6x zoom, the SD800 has 3.8x. It also starts at 28mm instead of the usual so […]

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Vista Pre-RC1

Written by jciv on September 3, 2006 — Leave a Comment

Microsoft recently released another public beta of Windows Vista so I downloaded it as soon as possible. I just got around to installing it. This isn’t the 64 bit version though like I got last time; I have read that was slow for a lot of people so maybe not releasing another public 64 bit […]

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Snakes On A Plane

Written by jciv on August 20, 2006 — Leave a Comment

The thought of a movie about snakes on a plane was just so stupid I was not going to see this movie. But I gave in Saturday. The reviews of the movie were not nearly as bad as I expected. It is frequently referred to as dumb B-movie summer fun. The idea just kept growing […]

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Recover Damaged JPEG files

Written by jciv on August 19, 2006 — 2 Comments

I am not talking about when you accidentally erased your camera’s memory or it got damaged, there are already plenty of solutions for that. What I want is to fix photos that have somehow been corrupted. In my case, photos of my Grandmother’s 80th birthday were put on a bad CD (not by me). Not […]

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